Menopause supplements are sought after due to the serious symptoms that come with menopause.
Menopause has been understudied in the past, leading to a lack of knowledge about the effectiveness of supplements.
Women are underrepresented in health research, contributing to the lack of understanding about menopause and its treatments.
The menopause is the point in time when a woman's periods have stopped for 12 months, which on average occurs when they're 51 years old. But actually, there can be many years leading up to this point, which we can call the perimenopause phase.
During the perimenopause phase, estrogen and progesterone fluctuate and their levels go up and down in a quite unpredictable way, causing this hormonal chaos.
More than half of women experience brain fog, anxiety, weight gain, low libido, joint pain, and memory loss. Those who had a healthy dietary pattern had about 30% less likelihood of experiencing hot flushes and sleep disturbances and about 20% less likelihood of experiencing brain fog, joint pain, anxiety or low mood.
30% of people are trying herbal remedies, 30% are trying vitamins and 51% any kind of dietary therapy as an alternative to HRT.
There's actually not a lot of good evidence showing that dietary supplements can relieve menopause symptoms, and there's no consensus of the evidence.
Phytoestrogens are natural substances from plants that mimic estrogen and bind to estrogen receptors in the body. They are found in high concentrations in soy, flaxseed, and red clover.
Populations with high soy isoflavone intake have lower incidence of menopausal symptoms. The average intake in the UK and US is less than half a milligram a day, while in China and Japan it's 20 to 70 milligrams a day.
Clinical trials of isoflavone supplementation are inconsistent, with some showing benefits and others not. The type and dose of isoflavone are important factors.
Genistein and diazine are the main forms of isoflavones. A dose of more than 15 milligrams of genistein a day is effective at reducing symptoms. The gut microbiome plays a role in metabolizing isoflavones into the active form called EQUOL.
People in Asia produce EQUOL from isoflavones, while in the UK and US, only 20 to 30% of people have the gut bacteria for this conversion.
Supplementation may be necessary for populations not getting enough isoflavones from their diet. Evidence supports a dose of 15 milligrams of genistein a day.
Improving overall dietary pattern with a Mediterranean style diet and maintaining a healthy weight can improve menopause symptoms. Most marketed supplements have weak evidence, except for isoflavones.
Long-term safety of phytoestrogens is still being researched. Caution against mega-dosing on any supplement. Improving dietary pattern is crucial for managing menopause symptoms.
Marketing around menopause supplements is powerful, but evidence for most supplements is weak. Research aims to unravel the impact of different diets and food chemicals on menopause symptoms.